Overseas Aviation

Air New Zealand Moves Forward Boeing 787-9 Daily Shanghai and Tokyo Service to Aug and Sep instead of from Oct. From end of Sep, Air New Zealand operating once a week B787-9 service Los Angeles. If I am not mistaken Air New Zealand has three B787-9 in the current fleet. Wondering where do they currently operate these B787-9s?

Shots Fired At FlyDubai Flight Landing in Baghdad

http://www.wsj.com/articles/shots-fi...dad-1422341895

DUBAI—A plane carrying 154 passengers was shot at on Monday after landing at Baghdad International Airport from Dubai, prompting the aviation authority in the United Arab Emirates to issue a ban on flights to the Iraqi capital.

Low-cost carrier FlyDubai said on Tuesday that flight FZ215 to Baghdad was fired at by small arms as it landed just before 5 p.m. local time, damaging the fuselage.

All passengers disembarked normally through the jet bridge and no medical attention was required at the airport, FlyDubai said. A replacement aircraft was flown to Iraq to carry passengers back to Dubai, the airline added.

“An investigation is under way to establish what happened,” a FlyDubai spokesperson said.

The airline has suspended flights to Baghdad until further notice. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said it would also suspend flights to the Iraqi capital after the U.A.E. General Civil Aviation Authority issued a ban on flying to the city due to security concerns.

“The safety of our customers and employees is always our first priority,” Etihad said in a statement.

Dubai’s Emirates Airline, the world’s biggest international carrier by traffic flown, also canceled flights to Baghdad, but said it would continue operating to Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdistan region and Basra in the south of the country.

“We remain committed to our customers in Iraq and hope to resume services to Baghdad as soon as operational conditions allow us to do so,” an Emirates spokesperson said.

Concerns about airlines flying into conflict zones have grown in the past year after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 on board. Airlines had largely stopped flying over Iraqi airspace after the advancement into the country last year of Islamic State, which led to the U.S. launching airstrikes against the Islamist militants.

The U.S. government in August told airlines flying over Iraq to remain at higher altitudes. U.S. carriers are now prohibited from flying over the country below 30,000 feet, while European safety regulators also issued similar guidance.

Iraq was previously a busy trunk route for airlines traveling between Europe and the Persian Gulf hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, or beyond to Southeast Asia. Air France , Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Virgin Atlantic Airways all said they had ceased flying over Iraq.

Etihad and Dubai’s Emirates Airline, the world’s biggest international carrier by traffic flown, had diverted most of their traffic through Iran’s airspace to connect to Europe and some ports in the U.S. But the airlines had continued flying direct to Iraq.

Maldivian Airlines takes delivery of first A321 - http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=7960088&nseq=1 . It's 8Q-IAI, MSN2599 delivered on 20-1-15 via MAD-JED-MLE.

i dont think its a revenue flight

Serendib, the most obvious difference between the various A340 sub types is the range, and the length and wing span !

A picture from Wiki will give you an idea of the length

A7-ALA flying to Sharjah today - http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/a7-ala/

They took delivery of A350 & A380 together on 23-Dec-14.



She's a beauty!! I 'm quite surprised QR didnt planned to use the first A350 revenue flight to London LHR. However they may use A350 trial flight to LHR like they did with their B787-8 few years back. Hopefully i can take some photos of QR A350 trial flight in LHR. But i want to know when exactly these trial flights are operating.

They will fly to Frankfurt in mid-Jan 2015

Thanks for the update! Any picture of the aircraft ? when/where they going to operate the first revenue flight?

First A350-900 (A7-ALA) has been delivered to Qatar Airways

A340 - 200 Longest range aircraft until arrival of the A340 -500
A340 - 311 1st 300 (1992) with CFM56-5C2 engine/139 kN (Thrust)
A340 - 312 2nd 300 (1994) with CFM56-5C3 engine/145 kN (Thrust)
A340 - 313X 3rd 300 (1995) with CFM56-5C4 engine/151 kN (Thrust) also known as 300E developed for Singapore Airline

it continues
A340 - 211with CFM56-5C2 engine/139 kN (Thrust)
A340 - 212 with CFM56-5C3 engine/145 kN (Thrust)
A340 - 213 with CFM56-5C4 engine/151 kN (Thrust)

A340 - 541
A340 - 542
A340 - 643
A340 - 644

can someone tell me what is the difference between the 4 sub-types of the A340 series? Example A340-200/311/312/313X

Maldivian Airlines expanding the network !!

Two main reasons: The flight to EZE (Argentina) is to fill a void left by AR discontinuing EZE-AKL-SYD and QF discontinuing EZE-SYD. There is a huge demand between South America and Oceania. Currently only destination in SA served by both QF and LA is Santiago. North America, NZ has been steadily growing. NZ operates up to 4X flights a day to LAX from AKL. 2 AKL-LAX services (B777-300ER and B777-200ER). 1 B777-300ER routed AKL-LAX-LHR and one B767-300ER routed AKL-RAR-LAX. In addition NZ flies to both YVR and SFO. Another contributing factor is the monopoly NZ has on AKL-USA route. Up-till a couple of years ago QF operated MEL-AKL-LAX (B747-300/400). This later become AKL-LAX-AKL with a B747-400 positioned in AKL. The B747-400 was downgraded to A330-200 and then the route was abandoned (i.e. AKL-Americas) altogether by QF.

good news NZ is expanding their network! If i am not mistaken NZ didnt launched any new routes in last few years?
What's a reason for their sudden expansion plans in US and Argentina?